A Caddo Council motion asking state and regional authorities to halt large-scale water withdrawals from Caddo Lake next week was defeated without a second approval during Monday’s work session.
An agenda item on the agenda for the Caddo Commission’s Feb. 2 work session calls on the Red River Compact Commission and the Louisiana Department of Energy and Natural Resources to impose a 365-day moratorium on water withdrawals from Caddo Lake for any use other than small or commercial residential uses, or until a study of impacts above currently permitted levels can be obtained.
The resolution cited concerns about the lake’s long-term sustainability from a proposed data center near Caddo Lake.
Without a second time, there would be no further discussion of the resolution.
As the governing body goes into executive session, they offered the opportunity to speak with two citizens who came in after the public comment period. One of those citizens is Vicki L. Moore
Moore has lived in Caddo Parish for 47 years and has lived on Blanchard-Latex Road for the past two years, where data center developer STACK Infrastructure has purchased more than 500 acres.
“You are my representative on the committee,” Moore said. She expressed concern about the water in Caddo Lake, noting that she has been without water for several days and saying that in the two years she has lived in Blanchard, she has been without water more often than in Shreveport. Mostly, she expressed disappointment that the committee didn’t at least move forward with discussing Clarkman’s proposal.
“We don’t know where you stand. So I don’t know where I stand,” she said.
Commissioner Victor Thomas commented on the proposal.
“We plan to address this issue in an appropriate form,” he said. “I don’t want you to leave here feeling like a failure, we don’t care about your water issues and we don’t care about Caddo Lake.”
Most commissioners who spoke agreed it was too early, saying there was no evidence the planned development was actually a data center.
Which data center does Blanchard have? Data center developer STACK Infrastructure tied to Caddo, Bossier land deal.
Clarkman, however, said the resolution has nothing to do with Blanchard Utilities or the data center. “We all say how much we care about Caddo Lake, but if we’re not willing to talk about it, how much do we really care?” the statement drew thunderous applause.
He went on to say that this was one of the most proactive things he had done since becoming commissioner and that he was simply asking for a pause so “smart” people could study it.
STACK Infrastructure is clearing land at Blanchard Latex and Stateline Roads — a site that straddles the Texas-Louisiana state line between Blanchard and Mooringsport.
This silent dismissal of Clarkman’s legislation resonates as the Blanchard region grapples with its water crisis.
Does Blanchard have a problem with water?
Blanchard Mayor Jim Garambo said said on Facebook on February 1 Blanchard Water Systems Encountered a problem that affected production Local municipalities.
Galambo told the Shreveport Times on Monday, Feb. 2, that equipment at the Blanchard Water Systems plant was experiencing some production issues due to the cold weather.
On Sunday, the Blanchard Water System shut off some customers’ valves so the system could fill its tanks.
As of Monday, the water outage had not been resolved after the leak was discovered, forcing the water system to drain its tanks.
Blanchard Water Crisis: Blanchard Utilities water outage affects cities, schools closed
“We’ve been struggling,” Garambo said. “We had to go find the leaks. Now we’ve finally found them all and we have crews on site. We’re getting them to fix them.”
Mooringsport Mayor Ty Gordon posted on Facebook that “at this time, Mooringsport and Oil City remain closed… There is no exact time for recovery at this time.”
The water outage resulted in the closure of Herndon Magnet School, Mooringsport Elementary School, Blanchard Elementary School, Donnie Bickham Middle School and Northwood High School.
“District leadership will continue to monitor the situation closely and will provide updates as more information becomes available,” Caddo Parish Schools said.
Clarkman, who proposed the moratorium, told The Times in a previous interview that he had fielded calls from constituents opposed to the data center and environmentalists concerned that Caddo Lake would not be able to sustain the millions of gallons of water pumped per day under the developer’s contract with Blanchard.
“Before we pontificate against data centers, let’s let qualified people evaluate what the lake can or cannot withstand,” Clarkman said. “I’d rather weigh and measure whether that’s okay and I think everyone can stop and sort out some facts.”
A measure in New Orleans similar to the one proposed by Clarkman resulted in the cancellation of a data center project.
Are data centers planned for the Blanchard area?
A global data center developer with a growing presence across the United States has been linked to several large land acquisitions in Caddo and Bossier parishes, according to public property records.
STACK Infrastructure, a Denver-based digital infrastructure company, is participating in the acquisition through SAC III Acquisition Co. LLC, which is listed in multiple property purchase agreements for data center development in northwest Louisiana.
SAC III Acquisition Co. is listed as the buyer in multiple transactions in Caddo Parish and Bossier Parish, including more than 500 acres in Blanchard at the corner of Blanchard Latex and Stateline roads. The property is located on the Louisiana-Texas border.
Public records show that SAC III Acquisition Co. lists its address as 1700 Broadway, Suite 1750, Denver, Colorado, the same address used by STACK Infrastructure.
STACK Infrastructure develops and operates hyperscale data centers for large enterprises, cloud service providers, and companies focused on artificial intelligence and machine learning workloads. The company provides data center capacity in key markets across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.
The company is backed by investment firms IPI Partners and ICONIQ Capital, which specialize in large-scale infrastructure and technology investments.
This article originally appeared in the Shreveport Times: Caddo Commission rejects Caddo Lake proposal without controversy
